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- Earthrise: learning from Apollo 8
I want to tell you about this Good Earth, with the help of the Apollo 8 crew.
I want to tell you about this Good Earth, with the help of the Apollo 8 crew.
We did something that ended up
showing the earth and its people
exactly
how we existed
where we are
that we were really here on Earth
a space craft
and we are all astronauts
and whether we liked it
or not
that like we were in (the) spacecraft
having to work closely together
to accomplish the mission.
Down here
we seem
not to be able
to do that.
It’s been 51 years since the crew of Apollo 8 circled the moon and took the now famous picture of the earth rising over the desolate lunar surface. It is estimated a quarter of the earth’s population saw the Apollo 8 broadcasts, and the photo itself was an inspiration for the first Earth Day in 1970.
The photo still evokes a sense of wonder in me. This little blue jewel framed by the lifeless moon and the vastness of space. Our precious, fragile, home.
I had a different suite of feelings when I heard Jim Lovell’s words quoted above on the compelling documentary, Earthrise. ‘Down here we seem not to be able to do that’. I felt sad and frustrated. I’ve now been working in the environmental field for 42 years with a generation who saw Bill Ander's photo. We have made incredible progress in feeding the world and removing people out of poverty. But we have the side effects of reduced biodiversity and more and more people succumbing to the effects of air pollution.
Down here we seem not to be able to do that.
What is the ‘that’ to which Captain Lovell is referring? Astronauts have to work as a team on their fragile spacecraft to live. So do we on this earth. Jim Lovell calls this Earth a spacecraft. And like a spacecraft, we all have to work together to ensure its life support system can care for us all as we hurtle through space at 30 km/sec.
We need the prophets, writers and scientists who flag issues of concern. We need engineers and businesspersons to implement creative solutions. We need all of us to use our resources wisely, to share what we have, to dance elegantly on this Good Earth. Just think if every one of us 7.53 billion people did one small thing to make the Earth better, how much better the Earth would be. We need to work together. It is not easy to change life styles, consume more carefully and develop new innovations. We need to listen to each other and support each other as we ‘Work in the Garden’ (Gen 2:15).
On Christmas Eve, 1968, as the Apollo 8 astronauts rounded the moon for the ninth time, they read the first ten verses from the Book of Genesis back to Earth. They ended their reading with, ‘God bless all of you, all of you on the Good Earth’.
This whole Earth is a love song to the Father.
Oh, brothers and sisters, is it not a Good Earth? God saw it was good. So should we. This whole Earth is a love song to the Father. Does it groan (Rom 8:22)? Yes, it does. And should we not strain as well, do everything we can to restore and bring clean air, clean water, and restored ecosystems to every living thing on this planet? Yes, we should. Should not every human and every living thing have room to flourish to attain their God-given potential? It’s God’s creation, let it flourish!
My next post will be ‘A response to Dianne’, a faithful reader of these blogs and a dear friend in Christ to Terri and me. She writes, ‘Please give some specific, practical examples of doing something in my neighbourhood which could show redemptive creation in action.’ Well I must admit this blog was a bit out in space. I will come down to earth to answer Dianne.
Till then, God bless all of you, all of you on the Good Earth.
Apollo 8 Crew
If you want to see more of the history of the Apollo 8 mission leading up to the iconic photo, check out the Emmy nominated documentary Earthrise at https://emergencemagazine.org/story/earthrise-film/
There is a copy of the astronauts reading Genesis on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8 under the Earthrise section.